Don't Get Caught
by Hannah Stark
Summary: Emily Danvers is Caleb's little sister. This story tells of her experiences as the 'Son's' only little sister as she turns sixteen and enters her sophomore year at Spenser.
1. Chapter 1

"Are you having fun?" Scarlet asked as she took a seat next to Emily on one of the many logs upturned on the open field to be used as seats. The music of the party was so loud that Scarlet was almost yelling at Emily.

"Sure, loads," Emily answered sarcastically, though Scarlet didn't pick up on it. Emily's beautiful, yet a little dim-witted best friend, Scarlet Samuels was busy running her fingers through her red-blonde waves, while she locked eyes with her boyfriend.

"Scarlet, come dance with me," Jake called to her. Scarlet's smile grew and her blue eyes lit up.

"Hang on," she replied, barely managing to pull her eyes away from him to look at Emily, "You need to have some fun tonight. I mean, you're disobeying your brother's orders, you might as well enjoy yourself while doing it."

Jake approached them.

"Emily, you're hopeless." Jake let out a laugh as he shook his head, "Our chronic good girl."

She rolled her eyes.

"I'm here, aren't I?" she argued, "and anyways, I'm not going to risk getting caught by wandering around. I could easily run into one of the guys. I'm perfectly content to stay right here."

"My cousin's here and I don't care. I don't care if the boys are here," Scarlet answered.

"Well, last time I checked, your cousin doesn't care if you're here."

Scarlet knew that Emily was right. Reid was her step-cousin, only by marriage, and he was far more protective, as were the other guys, of Emily.

"I guess you're right about that," she answered, "but it doesn't matter. What's the worst thing that could happen? That you get a little grinding action with a hottie and your brother lectures you when he finds out?"

That scenario was very close to the worst that would happen and Emily was well aware of that fact.

"I'll dance, if someone worthy comes along." Emily smirked; it wasn't a lie. She wasn't going to risk getting in trouble for some random guy.

"Fine, be that way. You're such a little good girl." Scarlet turned away and Jake shook his head as he followed behind her.

Emily watched as the two made their way to the dance floor, their hands moving along each other's bodies, smiles on both of their faces.

"Emily?"

"Hey Jesse," she replied with a smile to Jake's best friend, a senior who was in every sense of the description, tall, dark, and very handsome.

"What are you doing here? This isn't your scene, is it?"

"No, not really, Scarlet and Jake made me come. You know how they are." Emily shrugged.

"Does your brother know you're here?"

Emily knew that Jesse knew the answer to the question, "Actually, I didn't really mention it to him."

"Oh, rebelling I see."

"It's not exactly what I would call open rebellion," she answered.

"Why don't you make it one?" He looked at her with his green-grey eyes and a smirk that made it a pure dare.

"What do you suggest?" she asked ready for it. Emily Danvers was a good girl, but she wasn't the type to let a dare pass her up.

"This." Jesse handed her a drink and downed the one left in his hand. She tipped the glass, allowing the cool liquid to slide down her throat. When she finished, Jesse was staring at her.

"What are you looking at?" she asked.

"How did you do that?" He still had a look of awe on his face.

"All I did was drink it, Jesse," she replied raising an eyebrow.

"That's just a lot of alcohol for one little girl," he replied, "What else have you had?"

"I'm not a little girl," she answered, hands on her hips.

"I know you're not, it's just you're small," he answered, "petite, you know?"

Emily nodded. She understood what he was trying to say and really didn't feel like arguing with him. She looked over at the 'dance floor,' but didn't see Scarlet. Not feeling up to another drink with Jesse, she stood up.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Just over there," she pointed to the woods.

"By yourself? That drink is going to hit you any second. I didn't make it weak, Emily. Want me to come?" he asked.

Emily shook her head.

"I'll be fine, no one will mess with these." She flexed what little muscles she had.

He laughed at her.

She was a little drunk.

"Why are you going over there anyways?" he asked.

"To find Scarlet and Jake, they're my ride," she replied with a shrug.

"Well, if you don't get out of here, I think they'll be your ride," Jesse pointed to the four boys walking toward the group of dancers. The 'Sons of Ipswich' as they were called had arrived and Emily took on last sip of Jesse's drink before heading away from the people and towards the wooded part of the field, down the path to where Jake had parked his car. Emily glanced back at the guys. It seemed that people gravitated towards them.

She watched as Pogue kissed his girlfriend Kate and wrapped his arms around her, his leather jacket covering her arms. He kept his arm around her, even after their initial hug. He was always like that, protective of the ones he cared for. Pogue pushed his long brown hair out of his face flashing his hazel eyes. He was handsome; all the guys were in their own way.

Reid was standing next to Pogue and some blonde girl, presumably a transfer student. He had a cocky smirk on his face and Emily could safely assume that Reid had plans to get with the blonde like he had with almost every other girl at school. Reid was, at times, an idiot, but he was confident and girls tended to fall for that. It didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes. He had light blonde hair, light blue eyes and a bad ass attitude to go along. He was a girl's dream hook-up and any girl who would have him was his dream.

Tyler, as usual, could be found next to Reid. Emily smiled at his calm grin. He wore it at every occasion, a calm smile to match his personality. He was the youngest of the 'brothers' and by far the quietest in temperament. He had light blue eyes and brown hair. Emily noticed a pair of keys he was jingling in his hand and laughed to herself. He hadn't even driven there. His new hummer was at school. Caleb had told her that he was picking up the guys. Tyler was damn proud of that hummer.

Emily's eyes drifted to look at her brother, Caleb Danvers, the eldest of the boys. He was smart and hardworking though the side she saw the most of him was his protective side. They looked nothing alike, but everyone knew who's sister she was, especially the boys attending Spenser. Caleb's hair was wavy and dark brown, Emily's was perfectly straight and blonde. Caleb's eyes were a deep brown, Emily's were bright green, but everyone knew. He was introducing himself to the blonde, and by the smile on her face, Emily gathered that Caleb had succeeded in charming her.

"Danvers."

His voice made Emily jump and sent an involuntary chill up her spine. Reluctantly, she turned to face Aaron. To her surprise, he was alone. For a moment, that fact made her feel better; until she realized that she too was alone. Emily became conscious of the false sense of security she had while walking into the woods by herself.

"What do you want?" she asked raising an eyebrow, trying to sound calm.

"As if you don't know," he replied as he studied her with his eyes. Aaron pushed his hand through his brown curls and stopped when she didn't reply.

She made to zip up her jacket and he grabbed her arm.

"You do know what I want, don't you?"

Emily stared back at him. Aaron grabbed her other arm.

"Don't touch me, Aaron," Emily replied, trying to remove her arms from his grip. She closed her eyes as he slammed her back against the tree she had been hiding behind to watch her brother from afar.

"Just give it up," he said in almost a whisper, his finger traced her jaw line.

Emily could feel his breath hot and sticky on her skin. The feeling made her nauseous.

"Aaron," she said quietly, almost promisingly.

He leaned in, ready to hear her give in.

"You will never, ever have me." Emily tried to release herself from him but it didn't work.

Aaron's hand swung quickly, hitting her cheek.

"You wanna bet you little bitch?" He kissed her hard, still holding her hands above her head. He bit her lip and she tried to turn her face away from him.

"Fine," he said though she hadn't said anything. Aaron began working on unzipping her jacket, which he pulled off easily.

"Let me go," she protested loudly.

He looked at her with a smirk, "We're not even close to done here."

Emily screamed, but he quickly covered her mouth.

"Let me go!" she screamed, the sound muffled by his hand.

Aaron's hands were cold on her skin, like ice. He had started to kiss her again, and his hands were venturing around her body under her shirt. Her skin was on fire, filled with embarrassment and tears were streaming down her face.

"Let her go."

Aaron turned to look at him. Emily wasn't sure if she was happy or scared to hear the familiar voice.

"Mind your own business, Danvers." Aaron didn't look away from the boys but he kept his hand up Emily's shirt.

"You heard him, Aaron, let her go."

This time it was Pogue's voice. Emily assumed that Tyler and Reid were there as well.

"Why don't the four of you just mind your own business?" Aaron asked, his grip still tight on Emily."

"Considering that she's my little sister, I'm going to go ahead and say this is my business. Get off of her."

Aaron didn't move, but with a few quick strides, Caleb had bridged the distance and pulled him off of Emily, flinging him to the ground. Caleb stared at his younger sister. One look from him was all she needed.

"Go wait with Pogue right now."

Emily didn't move right away. She just stared at her brother's face.

"I said, now," he yelled at her.

She went to Pogue and he hugged her, walking her further away from the action.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She smoothed out her clothes, shivering and wishing that she had her jacket. Emily's eyes were red when she finally looked up to his face. She wiped them with her hands. She didn't want Caleb to see her crying if she could help it.

"It'll be okay, kiddo."

"Did you really think that we'd let you get away with this?" Caleb asked. He was pissed, at Aaron for being himself and for daring to touch her and at Emily for not listening to him. Tyler and Reid had stayed behind with Caleb for affect. Caleb hadn't really needed the help. He was strong enough on his own.

"Hey, she wanted to come with me," Aaron answered, shrugging.

"No she didn't," Caleb retorted, "My sister hates you."

"She's fifteen; no girls your age will have you?" Reid asked sarcastically, "It's totally understandable, go for the vulnerable ones."

"Well, what can I say, she definitely doesn't look fifteen. She's hot. She's got this perfect little reputation. I couldn't resist."

Caleb punched him hard and then lifted him back up and punched him again. Pogue and Emily were far enough away that they couldn't hear everything that was being said, but they could see it all. Aaron stood up again.

"It's not my fault if she stumbled in here like a drunken little slut. She was asking for it."

Caleb punched him possibly harder than he had ever punched a person before. It was over and they all knew it. There was absolutely no way that Aaron was coming back for more after that.

"If you ever touch her again, I will kill you." Caleb walked away with Tyler and Reid following in his wake.

"You're going to be in big trouble," Pogue said as he noticed Caleb nearing them.

She noticed him too, and moved around the other side of Pogue, using him as a barrier, "You can't hide from him."

"I know," she answered quietly. She wished that she could hide from him though. Caleb had a crazed look in his eyes and she could tell just by the way that he was walking that he was angry. She felt nauseous, but she didn't know if it was from the looming feeling that she might get killed in the near future or the fact that she had drank more than she ever had before. Caleb didn't say a word when he grabbed her arm. He was walking quickly and was dragging her along with him. The guys fell in behind them.

Tyler looked at Emily sympathetically. He knew that Caleb wasn't going to let her hear the end of this for a long time.

Caleb was like a father to her and everyone at school understood it. Their mother was a drunk, their father gone. He had to take care of her and if that meant tough love, he was going to dish it out. He had an obligation to her, and out of admiration and respect, she had an obligation to him as well. Emily respected him enough to let him tell her what to do. She gave him the same type of respect that she'd give her parents if they were to ever act like parents, probably more.

"Party over- Jake says he saw three cop cars down the road, move out."

They heard the voice go over the speakers just as they reached the car.

"Get in the car," Caleb said as he let go of her arm.

She did as she was told, rubbing the place on her arm that he had been gripping. Tyler and Reid filed in beside her.

"Are you alright?" Tyler asked quietly as they all got settled. She shook her head, not willing to say anything until Caleb asked her to, "Are you sure?" he looked at her eyes, green irises and red in all the rest. She shook her head again, though she wasn't convincing anyone. He placed a hand on her knee and squeezed encouragingly. Caleb sped down the road.

"We showed Abbot what's up," Reid said ending the silence and starting a new, even more uncomfortable silence.

Caleb caught Emily's eye in the mirror. He was pissed. She looked away. The nauseous feeling had returned, possibly stronger than the last time.

"Emily, you don't look too good."

She looked at Reid, annoyed.

"I'm fine," she answered quietly.

Caleb turned looked at her. She wasn't fine and he knew it.

"What did you drink?" Caleb asked. He had slowed the car down to a reasonable speed.

"I don't know. Lots of stuff." she answered.

"Do you have any idea what could've happened? How goddamn stupid that is?" he asked, pissed. The alcohol was just the icing on the cake.

"I'm sor-."

Caleb cut her off, "We'll talk later." He pushed the button, rolling down the window the window for her. The cool air blew on her face and she felt a little better. She knew she wasn't that drunk, but she didn't feel well and Emily knew that she had a long lecture awaiting her. The fact that he wasn't yelling at her in front of the guys made it all the worse because that meant real trouble.

"See you later, Caleb," Reid said as he stepped out of the car at the school, "Good luck." he whispered to Emily.

"I want you up here in the front," Caleb said from the front seat.

"I'm fine back here," Emily answered, looking to Pogue and Tyler for help. Caleb didn't have to say another word. He turned and stared at her and Emily quickly moved herself out of the back seat to where Tyler and Pogue were standing.

"Feel better, Em," Tyler said as he hugged her with an arm. He was quiet, and sincere. She could hear Reid talking to Caleb at the driver's side window.

"Emily, let's go, now." His voice was gruff and low when he added it to the end of something he had been saying to Reid.

"Try not to talk back to him." Pogue suggested as he followed her to the car door.

Emily got in silently.

"Call me in the morning, Caleb."

"You got it," Caleb answered in a semi-normal voice. He was trying his best not to sound pissed at his friends, too. He was mad at Emily, not them.

The ride home was silent. Emily had busied herself pretending to read a piece of paper she had found in her purse. She looked up at Caleb, but he was staring straight ahead.

"I'm sorry," she offered into the silence.

"No you're not. You're just sorry that you got caught."

At this point, Emily was sorry that she had done any of it, but his tone was making her angry.

"So what?" she asked, "It's not like you're perfect."

Caleb didn't respond. He had barely stopped the car when she opened the door and started walking toward the house.

"Emily."

She didn't stop at his command. Caleb grabbed her arm and turned her towards him in one fluid motion.

"Please, don't use-."

He cut her off.

"I'm not using on you," he answered, "I really don't think I need to, do I?" Caleb was irritated that Emily would even think he would do that to her. However, his grip was tight; to Emily, it felt like he was using his power.

"Can you let me go?" she asked. He didn't answer and she tried to pry his fingers away, "Caleb, please. You're hurting me." He let go of her arm and they walked silently into the house. Their mother was sitting alone in the front room with a glass in her hand.

"Caleb?" she called.

"Yes mom, it's me."

"Oh, wonderful, now both of my babies are home. Emily has been so quiet tonight; she didn't even want dinner."

Caleb looked to his sister.

"You have exactly five minutes to get upstairs and change into something half way decent."

Emily turned away from him and walked up the stairs to her room. Caleb entered the living room after he watched her head up the stairs.

"You look so much like him," she said glancing at a picture of Mr. Danvers, "like a twin, Caleb."

"I know, Mom, and Emily looks just like his sister, Jane."

"You know that I met him when he was a year younger than you are now."

"Yes, you've told me."

"You and Emily remind me so much of them. He protected her too."

"Not well enough apparently," Caleb mumbled to himself.

Aunt Jane had died in a fire that had killed her husband and the rest of their family including three children James, Anna, and Lily.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"Nothing mother, please continue."

"You're going to ascend soon, I can't lose you like I lost him, I just can't," she offered, sounding distressed.

The five minutes Caleb had allotted had passed and Emily ventured into the hallway, sitting by the stairs and listening intently.

"Mom, I can handle this. I am not him," he retorted, getting irritated.

"That's what he said about his father and look where denial got him, in that old house, like an old man, practically dead."

"I'll be careful."

Emily thought about her father and what he was doing. Nothing, she thought. He couldn't do anything even if he had wanted. The power had been too much for him. He used and used until it took whatever youth he had, leaving him comparable to a turnip, useless. He was practically dead to them.

"Come on."

Emily hadn't even noticed Caleb come up the stairs. He walked into his room and she followed, taking her regular seat on his bed. He paced back and forth for a few seconds before looking at her. She could tell that he was choosing his words wisely.

"What were you thinking?" he asked.

"I wasn't," she replied, "I never should've gone, Caleb."

"Then why did you? Last time that I checked, you're fifteen and you still are supposed to do as I say. I told you to stay here tonight for a reason,"

"Scarlet wanted me to go," she answered.

"I don't care who wanted you to go. You're my sister and I told you that you weren't to leave the house tonight."

"Well, there's nothing that we can do about it now," she answered. Her comment didn't help and that was obvious.

"He could've raped you. You know that, don't you?" Caleb said in a serious tone.

"No he couldn't have," Emily retorted though she knew it was a possibility.

"You were going to stop him?" Caleb asked, "You're method of getting him to stop appeared to be working out really well."

"Well, it's not as if I'm going to be doing it again," she answered, "I didn't exactly have fun tonight."

"Good," he answered, "If you ever do this to-," she cut him off.

"I know, I'll be in big trouble," she answered.

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Sorry, I know this is serious." Emily stood up.

"Sit."

She had tried to goof around to make things go quicker, but it didn't seem to be working.

"Do you see how mom is?"

Emily nodded.

"You're not her, and I'm not him. Let's keep it that way." He searched her eyes, "You can't do stupid stuff like this Emily, especially with the things that you know. Do you know what would happen to us if anyone found out about the powers? One stupid mistake could ruin everything."

"I know," she was quiet. Caleb had struck a nerve.

"You don't know."

"Shut up, Caleb," she responded, "I'm not stupid."

"Well, you're being naïve and obviously don't know how important this is."

"Well, what do you expect me to do, Caleb? I mean. It's not like it's even my responsibility to protect your stupid powers. I wish you guys didn't even have them."

He was getting annoyed with her.

"And I don't care if you're mad at me. I didn't do anything wrong. Mom would've let me go out if I'd asked. It's not your responsibility to act like my father."

"You didn't ask her and you are my responsibility. Dad is less than capable of doing anything, never less dealing with your bull shit, and as for Mom, she is just about as incapable as he is. So, yeah, this is my responsibility and don't think that I'm ever going to forget that. As for protecting the powers, you're not just protecting me, but Tyler and Reid and Pogue too. If you're too stubborn to realize how important that is then fine, but remember that the four of us would do anything for you. Anything."

Emily didn't really know what to say in response. He was right, and she had known that. She had known that before he said it. Caleb may have overreacted sometimes, but overall, he was right, almost always, "Go get some sleep, you can run some errands with me tomorrow."

"You're not going to leave me alone, are you?" she asked.

"No, not any time soon," he answered honestly. Emily walked back to her room and slammed the door. She didn't need a babysitter, but her brother was going to act as one. Emily lay down on her bed and within minutes, was asleep. She was drained mentally and it was causing her to be tired, physically.

She awoke in the middle of the night not knowing what woke her. It was like a pulse throughout her entire body that had awakened her from a dead sleep. She headed down the stairs to the kitchen for a bottle of water. The house was pitch black. Someone had forgotten to turn on the light above the stove in the kitchen.

"Damn," she hissed as she stubbed her toe on one of the island chairs. She pulled open the refrigerator door allowing light to draw a line across the kitchen. Emily grabbed her water and closed the door and screamed. The body standing next to her had a blue glow about it, looking as though it was a zombie from one of those scary movies. Its eyes were white, the skin pasty. She jumped back, but it had disappeared. It was a darkling. Her brother had seen one before and told her about it, but Emily didn't understand why she could see it. She wasn't one of the Ipswich sons. She didn't have any powers. She took a sip of her water figuring that she had just been seeing things. There was no way that she had been sent a darkling. If this was what alcohol did to her, she never wanted it again. Emily turned into the foyer and dropped her bottle when she hit into a body. She let out another scream jumping backwards and falling in the process.

"Calm down, it's just me," Caleb answered providing her with a hand. She grabbed it and he pulled her up. She was shivering and pale, "What's wrong with you? Your hands are freezing."

"It's nothing; I just had a weird dream. I couldn't fall back to sleep,"

Caleb looked at her skeptically.

"Then why did you jump?" he asked. She followed him into the kitchen and took a seat at the counter. He did the same after grabbing a bottle of water, "So, why did you jump?" he repeated.

"It's dark and you scared me. I wasn't expecting it is all," she answered.

There was an extended pause in their conversation.

"Why are you up?" she asked.

"Something woke me up," he answered nonchalantly, though he made a weird face when he said it, "I'm going back to sleep, you coming?"

She slid off of her chair and followed closely behind him up the stairs.

"What was your dream about?" he asked.

"Nothing," she replied, "I mean, it was just weird. I'm sorry about earlier by the way, and not the 'because I got caught' kind either."

He stopped and grinned at her.

"I know you are," he answered hugging her, "How's your arm?" he asked. She rubbed it and shrugged. He pushed up her sleeve far enough to see a bruise.

"Caleb, don't worry about it. You didn't do it on purpose."

"No, Em, I didn't know it was that hard, and I shouldn't have been like I was to you. You've been through a lot tonight."

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine and it doesn't even hurt," she lied, "its fine, you were mad."

"No it's not, stand still," Suddenly, his eyes turned black and the bruise, along with the pain, disappeared.

"Caleb, I can't believe you. It was just a bruise. Don't use it for something stupid like that, I said I was fine." She walked away from him, angry, "You're such a moron."

Caleb grabbed her around the waist before she reached her bedroom door, pulling her back to him.

"Caleb, let me go."

He released her and she turned to face him with her hands on her hips.

"Didn't you hear what Mom said earlier?"

"I did, but you shouldn't have," he answered, "you weren't supposed to be eavesdropping."

"That's completely irrelevant," she replied, "she was right though. If you don't learn some self-."

He placed his hand over her mouth.

"Emily, I know. Please don't worry about it. I know that I shouldn't use, okay? I think I actually know more about it than you, but I'll try to control myself, okay, I'm sorry," he said all of this in a very patronizing tone.

"Fine, but you're still a moron," she replied.

Caleb picked her up over his shoulder before she could close the door to her room and set her down on the bed, tickling her.

"Stop, Caleb, Stop!" she said between short intakes of breath, "Stop it!" she screamed and he placed his hand over her mouth again.

"Quiet Emily," he said while laughing.

"It's your fault; you wouldn't stop," she answered when he took his hand away.

Caleb was in a better mood and Emily was glad for that, even if it meant that she had to get tickled.


	2. Chapter 2

Emily heard a knock on her door and opened her eyes just enough to glance at the alarm clock on her bedside table. It was eight o'clock on a Saturday morning and she just wanted to sleep until lunch time or at the very least until her headache disappeared.

"Let's go; we've got stuff to do today." Caleb pushed the door open when she didn't answer his knocks.

"I'm up, Caleb," Emily replied sitting up and rubbing her eyes, "please don't open the-,"

"How're you feeling?" he asked loudly with a smirk on his face as light splashed the walls. Her head hurt, he was speaking at a higher decibel level than necessary and the sun was much too bright in her room now that he had opened the curtains.

"Funny," she replied sarcastically.

"Well, get ready, like I said, we've got a lot to do today," He left her room and she lay back down on her pillow. She hadn't had that much to drink the night before, but she supposed that Jess was right; it was a lot of alcohol for a small person to take in and process. Emily rubbed her forehead though she knew it wouldn't make the pain go away.

She finally had got initiative to actually get out of her bed around 8:07. Emily headed to her bathroom and took a shower, allowing the water to wash away the night before. She felt dirty, tainted; of course, Aaron Abbot had run his hands on almost every part of her so it was understandable. She scrubbed harder until she felt like herself again. The shower was really what she had needed, Emily thought to herself as she exited the bathroom. She felt clean, refreshed, and the steam had driven her headache away, at least for the time being. She dried her hair and put on a sweatshirt and jeans, ready for her day of errands with Caleb. Right before she had gone to sleep, Emily had felt like the whole party had never happened. It seemed that Caleb had even forgotten, but she knew that he would bring it up again. She was ready for it though because there really wasn't a way to avoid it.

"Ready?" Caleb asked the second that she reached the bottom step.

"No, I need something for this headache. It feels like my head is going to split in two, somewhat of a splitting headache shall we say?" she smiled at him, but he didn't smile back.

"No, we're late; let's go."

She placed her hands on her hips.

"You are not denying me medicine. It's bad enough that you were yelling in my room this morning and then you opened the curtains. I need two pills right now."

Caleb laughed at his little sister.

"You'll be fine," he answered, "It'll teach you a lesson."

"I don't need to be taught a lesson, I get it okay?" Emily placed her hand to her head after feeling a pulse travel through her body leaving a stinging sensation in her head.

"What's wrong?" Caleb asked studying the look on her face.

"Nothing, I just need some ibuprofen," she replied, "Please."

He felt bad for her. The first time he'd gotten drunk, he spent the rest of the day in bed with a bucket, water, and a bottle of pain meds, but then again, he didn't learn anything from it until the third or fourth time.

"Fine, two pills, that's it," he replied.

"That's all I'm asking for and a bit more sleep, but I'll just take a nap later."

"No naps today, we've got too much to do,"

Emily rolled her eyes. She didn't have anything that she had to do besides relaxing, but Caleb was going to drag her along to "help" with every single thing that he had to do.

She didn't know why she had felt the pulse last night, and the second time it puzzled her just as much, though she ignored it, figuring that it was just part of the odd way she'd been feeling since the night before courtesy of the alcohol.

"Where are the guys today?" Emily asked as they neared town.

"Right now? Probably sleeping." Caleb looked at her with an eyebrow raised, as if the answer should've been obvious to her.

"Yes, because they're normal, reasonable people," she responded, "People that sleep to their heart's content when we don't have school."

"Well, I wasn't going to let you sleep all day, especially not-,"

"Since I drank last night, I know."

He looked at her, about to make it a more serious conversation.

"You know how horrible an idea that was, right? I don't even drink, neither does Tyler. Pogue only does it once in awhile." He had left out Reid.

"And Reid?" she prompted.

Caleb glanced at her. She already knew his deal.

"Reid's an idiot, but he can also hold his alcohol really, really well," Caleb answered, "Not your best choice for a role model."

This made Emily laugh. He really was a dreadful choice of a role model. Reid was nonchalant in almost every aspect of life. He didn't care about school, and his family relationships were the least of his worries. Sometimes, Emily wondered if he even cared about them, the other brothers and her. Reid had a way of redeeming himself though when they least expected it. Even if he was irresponsible, Reid was a good guy when he wanted to be.

Caleb and Emily headed into the small pharmacy in town.

"Hello Mr. Danvers, Miss Danvers." Paul was the older man behind the counter. It was a weekly ritual for Caleb to come and get the medicine along with anything else that was needed for the house.

"Hello," Caleb answered.

"Hi," Emily added, "Caleb, I'm going to get some things for tomorrow."

"Don't go far," he answered. She nodded her head.

"Ah, school starts tomorrow then?" Paul asked, just trying to strike up a conversation while he fumbled through the container of filled prescriptions.

"Yeah, summer's gone already," Caleb replied not really paying attention. He was watching Emily.

"Well, you're a senior now, aren't you?" Paul asked as if he had just remembered, "And little Emily is a sophomore?" Caleb nodded. "I remember the two of you when you were just little kids. Your father would be proud to see you guys."

"Yeah," Caleb answered.

Emily came back to the desk with her arms filled with notebooks, folders, pens, and pencils. Caleb looked at her with an eye brow raised curiously.

"What?" she asked with a shrug of her shoulders, "I haven't gotten anything yet."

"Let me guess, I'm paying," he replied and she smiled, nodding innocently.

He pulled out his wallet, "You're lucky that I have nothing better to spend money on than you."

"It's not even your money, its mom's," she responded.

When they paid for everything and Caleb collected the medicine, the two headed towards the door.

"Hey Caleb." He turned around to see who was talking to him, "What're you doing here?" the girl was blonde and petite. She had a fire in her eyes as she looked Caleb up and down.

"Taking this one school shopping," Caleb answered as he pulled Emily closer with an arm, "And running some errands for our mom."

"You must be Emily then," she answered.

Emily nodded.

"Em, this is Sarah, she's a transfer from Boston public." Emily waved.

"Caleb?" Kate popped up from around the corner and kissed him on the cheek.

"Hi Kate," he responded.

"Hey Emily. Do you guys want to go see that new movie with us?" she asked, "There's nothing else to do around here,"

"No thanks, we've got to run some errands,"

"Um, Caleb, do you think that I could go see Tyler and Reid for a little while?"

Caleb looked at her. It was a random statement.

"Why?" he asked.

"Just because," she replied, "Please?"

"You know what Kate, I've already seen that movie anyways," Sarah said quietly.

Kate crossed her arms. Caleb was still looking at Emily, and she glanced at Sarah, and tilted her head toward Sarah with a sigh. Emily placed a hand on his arm and mouthed please.

"Do you want to run some errands?" Caleb asked as he turned to Sarah.

"Sure," she replied with a smile.

He returned the smile and looked back to Emily.

"Go ahead and call, see if they're there."

She headed out to the car and threw the bag in the back seat, grabbing her phone to dial their number.

"Hello?" the voice was grumpy and confused. She had woke him up.

"Hey Reid, its Emily," she answered quietly.

"It's 9 am on a fricken Sunday morning. What the hell do you want?" he sounded extremely annoyed.

"I just wanted to make sure that you and Tyler were there," she answered.

"Why?"

"I'll see you in ten minutes," she answered.

"When you get here, you're dead." Reid hung up the phone.

Caleb and Sarah had just exited the building and were approaching the car.

"What did they say?" Caleb asked.

"It's fine," she replied nonchalantly getting in the car. Within ten minutes, Emily was standing next to Caleb's car, right outside the dorms.

"I assume Tyler will bring you home?" Caleb said. It was some place between a statement and a question.

"I don't know, probably," she responded, "I'll call." She kissed his cheek.

"Behave yourself, Emily,"

She walked away toward the building doors.

"She seems like a good kid," Sarah said as they watched her walk up the stairs.

"She can be," he answered not willing to take his eyes off of her until she was safely inside. Sarah watched him as a smile formed on her face. He glanced toward her.

"What?" Caleb asked noticing the smile that had taken over Sarah's face. She looked away when he asked, "What is it?"

"You really care about her," Sarah responded, "It's adorable."

"She's my little sister. Someone has to take care of her."

Kate had told Sarah about Caleb's family history, or at least what she knew of it. Sarah felt like she understood.

Emily knocked on Reid and Tyler's door. On the third set of knocks, Reid finally opened it. He was still in pajama bottoms and looked like she had just woke him up, again. His face was blank of any expression.

"Sorry Reid," she offered sincerely when he didn't say anything to her, not even a 'hello' before walking back towards his bed.

"Is there any particular reason you had to call me at 9 am?" He asked turning to her and causing her to jump a bit. She had been following close behind and hadn't expected him to turn around.

"Caleb was going to hang out with the new girl, Sarah, and I need a place to nap," He crawled back into his bed, seemingly annoyed.

"Where's Tyler?" she asked noticing he wasn't in the room. She didn't really want to spend the day with just Reid, especially if he was planning on being moody.

"Shower," he mumbled, "You might as well take his bed for now if you want a nap."

She put her stuff down and walked towards Tyler's bed.

"Why didn't you just go home and sleep in your own bed?" Reid asked sitting back up, suddenly very attentive and curious.

"There's no way Caleb would let me stay home alone after last night, and I'm not supposed to be sleeping either. I'm supposed to tough it out for the day."

Reid laughed.

"Yeah, I remember my first hangover. I slept for 23 hours straight," he smiled and looked like he had just stumbled across a pleasant childhood memory. It was highly probable that it was a childhood memory. Emily suspected that Reid had started drinking around age ten, "So, he's trying to teach you a lesson then?" he asked smirking again.

"Yeah, but I don't need it. I think the way I feel is enough, and last night I was seeing things. I'm never doing that again."

He laughed.

"You say that now," he replied, still smirking.

She suspected that he knew tons of people that had said that.

"No, I'm never doing it again," she answered.

Reid seemed like he wanted to end the conversation and get back to sleep. He was losing interest.

"Well, go ahead and take a nap. I'm not going to tell on you," He rolled back over and was sleeping within a minute.

Emily pulled off her sneakers and slipped underneath the covers of Tyler's bed. She breathed in through her nose allowing the scent of his cologne to enter her system. It was one of her favorite smells in the world, good cologne.

When Emily woke up, Tyler was sitting next to her watching TV and she was huddled close to him with her knees pulled in close to her body and her head against his leg.

"Did you have a good nap?" he asked smiling down at her. She laid back and looked at him from the pillow.

"What time is it?" she asked as she stretched out her arms. Tyler picked up his cell phone quick and dropped it back on the bedside table beside him.

"3:22" he answered.

"Really?" she asked, "I was just going to take a quick-,"

"Don't worry about it, you were tired," he answered. She sat up and leaned against the headboard next to him. Emily glanced at Reid's bed. He was still lying there, like a lump.

"Are you kidding me? I can't believe that he's still asleep,"

"You should talk," Tyler answered jokingly. She turned to look at him, about to argue, but decided that it wasn't worth it, "He does this almost every Sunday. Actually, he does this anytime he's not in class or at a party. Sometimes he even sleeps while doing that," Emily rolled her eyes in Reid's direction and walked toward him planning to wake him up. She reached her arm out to shake him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Tyler suggested.

"Why not?" she turned and looked at Tyler.

"He'll be pretty pissed, but it's up to you."

"Fine, I won't."

She sat back down feeling defeated. Reid had already been annoyed with her once in a day. She didn't need to make him mad again.

"So, how was last night?" Tyler asked. Emily was sitting facing him on the end of the bed with her knees pulled into her chest.

"It probably could've been worse," she replied with a shrug.

"How late did he keep you up?"

"Not too late. We got home near one, but we didn't stay up much later than that."

"And you woke up at eight? Why are you so tired then?" he asked.

"Something woke me up and it took a long time to fall back asleep after that," she answered.

"Yeah, something woke me up last night too. I think one of us must've used though," Tyler answered, "at least that's what it felt like."

"I don't know," Emily answered, "Can we get something to eat? I'm starving."

"Sure," he answered standing up, "Reid, we're going to get some lunch, you want anything?"

Reid didn't answer, but threw a pillow towards them narrowly missing Emily's head.

"Take that as a no?" Emily asked.

"Actually, I think that means he'll have whatever we're having."

Emily smiled at Tyler. He was probably the least noticed of the 'Sons of Ipswich', but that was because he was shy and quiet. He didn't talk often out of choice, not because he couldn't or was embarrassed. Tyler usually preferred to listen to a conversation and come up with the right thing to say rather than saying whatever popped into his head, like the others often did. He avoided a lot of fights that way.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked as they climbed into his hummer.

"Wherever you want to go," Emily answered, "I'm up for anything."

"Well, we could go to my house for a couple of hours. I bet my mom will be making a big dinner soon."

Emily's eyes lit up. She loved Tyler's parents. They were genuinely nice people that had the greatest assortment of personality traits between them and they were great parents. Being at Tyler's house was a completely different feeling to Emily. There was no one to help clean or cook, but it's not because his father chose to use magic. They just did things on their own. Emily smiled at the thought of them.

"That's probably the best idea that you've ever had," she answered.

"So, what do you think of the new vehicle?"

She had been looking out the window, the wind flowing in her hair.

"It's nice, horrible for the planet, and a gas guzzler, but it's nice."

He smiled at her; she was right. It was a terrible vehicle to have if you had plans to save the planet or if you had to worry about filling the tank, but Tyler didn't have to worry about either of those things.

"Tyler, is that you?" his mother, Julie called from the kitchen.

"Yeah Mom, it's just me and Emily," he answered.

"Oh, Emily." She almost ran into the room. Julie was a pretty lady, a little plump, but that had come with age.

"Hi Mrs. Simms." She had gone straight for Emily with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"How are you dear? We haven't seen you around here in almost a month," she stated looking a bit disappointed, "We were starting to think that you didn't like us anymore." She turned to Tyler, "No Caleb?"

"No, he's running some errands for my mom," Emily answered for him.

"Oh, how is she?"

"Fine," Emily replied. It was the answer that she always used when asked how her mother was. There was really no other way to answer, and in most cases the person asking didn't really care to know, though it was quite possible that Julie did.

"Well, Emily, I'm making lunch right now if you would like to help."

"Sure," she answered.

"I'll watch," Tyler piped in. Julie looked at him, "Where's Dad?"

"He's around here someplace," Tyler took a seat at the island while Emily washed her hands.

"You can start on the carrots right there. Peel them and chop them up."

Emily pushed her sleeves up, getting to work. She loved being at Tyler's house. It made her feel as though she was part of something. It was what a home was supposed to be like. If it wasn't for her brother, Emily felt like she would have nothing to stay home for, and in all reality, that was true.

"Why are there four places set at the table, dear?" Tyler's father entered the kitchen and then smiled, "Never mind."

Tyler's father, Keith, was tall and had a nice build. He looked older, but still normal, unlike Emily's father. He had been able to master his powers and avoid using them as much as possible, which proved to come out in his favor. He clapped a hand on Tyler's shoulder and then walked to Emily, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Tyler, you're making them do all of the work?" Keith asked jokingly.

"It's probably for the best, isn't it? I mean, we do plan to eat this, right?" Emily said without looking up from her carrots. She felt everyone's eyes on her and looked up, a bit nervous, until his parents started laughing almost uncontrollably.

"It wasn't _that_ funny," Tyler protested, sounding a bit like he was pouting.

Emily smiled at him. Apparently, she thought to herself, it was that funny.

"Tyler, come help me with some things outside and leave these ladies to gossip."

Tyler sighed as he pushed himself up from his seat and followed Keith outside.

"So," Keith said once they were out of earshot, "How're things?"

"Fine," Tyler answered picking up a piece of wood and setting it down for his father to chop.

"How's the love life?" Keith pried.

"Practically non-existent, but it's a new year, we'll see who's in the pool of transfers."

"How's Emily's?" Tyler looked at him strange.

"Well, she was with Abbott last night."

"Aaron?" he looked surprised and when Tyler looked up, Keith was staring at him.

"Yeah, he kind of came on to her," Tyler answered, "It wasn't a big deal, we took care of it. He was just trying to take advantage of her." Tyler was rambling at this point. He didn't know why he had even told his father about Aaron. Tyler was relieved by the sound of Emily's voice.

"Dinner's ready," she smiled at them as she hung her head out the door.

Tyler darted for the table, ending the conversation. They all sat down at the table, Julie and Keith on the ends, Emily across from Tyler. For the first few moments, they were quiet.

"So, I hear that you had a little trouble with Aaron Abbott last night."

Emily looked up to Keith and then at Tyler. His head had fallen into his hand, and he was really regretting saying anything. He hadn't even seen the look on Emily's face yet. She wanted him to look at her and kicked him in the shin to make it happen. He gasped, but didn't say anything as he looked at her.

"Like I said Dad, he's just a jerk who tried to take advantage of her because she was alone, but it's no big deal,"

"Oh, you're okay, then?" Julie looked severely concerned.

"I'm fine," Emily answered, "Completely fine."

"Well, you really shouldn't walk around by yourself; you're such a pretty girl."

"I know, Caleb yelled at me about it last night," Emily answered getting back to her dinner. She had expected something like this with Caleb, not Tyler. The rest of dinner was awkward, but Emily tried to ignore it. Around 8:00 o'clock, Tyler and Emily were ready to leave. Hugs were exchanged and promises to come back soon before the two headed toward the hummer, silently. Emily climbed in the passenger's seat and was quiet. Tyler put his keys in the ignition, but stopped before turning the key.

"Are you not going to talk to me?" he asked staring at her, but she was looking away, and his stare had no effect on her until she turned to say something. She had every intention of yelling at him until their eyes locked.

"Why did you tell him?" she asked quietly.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident." He placed his hand on the side of her face, "I really didn't mean to tell him, it slipped out, I'm sorry,"

"Fine, don't worry about it," Emily answered. She wasn't capable of staying mad at him even if she wanted to.

"Good," He moved his hand to her head, messing her hair up. Emily grabbed his hand and pushed it away. He turned the key and directed the car in the to Nicky's for one last night of summer.


	3. Chapter 3

"It's nice to see that you made it out of that coma you were in," Emily said as she hopped up onto the pool table in front of Reid while there was a pause between their games. He sneered at Emily putting his hands on her waist and placing her on the floor besides the table.

"We're playing a game here, Emily."

She rolled her eyes at him. Pogue approached the pool table and hugged Emily with an arm.

"How're you doing kiddo?" he asked.

"Alright," she answered with a shrug.

"Are you hungry? I'll get you something," she shook her head 'no.'

"I was just at Tyler's house," he nodded. She had said enough. Whenever anyone went to Tyler's house, they had a big meal.

"Alright," he leaned forward on the pool table next to Reid and Tyler. Emily glanced in the direction that they were looking, noticing their target.

"Blue- cotton?" one of them suggested.

"I'm going to find my brother," Emily said to them before they really got started in their usual stupidity. They all nodded though they weren't paying attention to her.

"Hey."

She felt someone grab her arm and pull her towards him. It was Aaron.

"I'm surprised you didn't come and find me."

Emily pushed his arm away and he grabbed her again.

"I'll scream," she answered.

"Yeah, you will." he replied, laughing it off. She had barely made a noise when he cupped his hand over her mouth.

"Let me go," she said into his hand. He laughed again, seriously pissing Emily off. She raised her leg and kicked him hard. She wasn't sure whether or not she had hit him where she had meant to, but it didn't matter because he backed away far enough for her to get away. She sat down next to Caleb as soon as she arrived at his table.

Caleb took his stare away from Sarah just long enough to acknowledge Emily's being.

"Hi," she said trying to control her awkward breathing.

"Hi, why are you out of breath?" he asked.

"I'm not," she answered, "just thirsty is all," He pulled out his wallet.

"Here, go get yourself something," She looked at the money. She didn't really want to leave the table.

"Oh, no, don't worry about it,"

"You know what; I think I'm a bit thirsty myself."

Emily hadn't even noticed that there was anyone there except Caleb and the girls. She looked at him. The first thing she noticed was his reassuring smile.

"I'm Chase by the way, Chase Collins. I assume that you're Emily."

She nodded, still staring. His eyes were an icy blue color and she couldn't look away.

"Yeah, Emily, Chase is another transfer," Caleb added noticing that they had just introduced themselves.

"So, are you thirsty?" he asked. She nodded again taking the money from Caleb's hand, "So, you're the only girl?" he asked.

"Yeah, but Caleb's the only boy," she answered, confused.

"I meant with the 'Sons of Ipswich'."

She felt red in the face. Her answer had been stupid in retrospect.

"Yeah, I guess so," she answered.

When they made it back to the table, no one was there. Emily looked to the dance floor. Pogue and Kate were rubbing up against each other. Next to them, Sarah was grinding on Caleb. She spit out her drink.

"Wow. Gross," Chase glanced at them and then back at Emily.

"Sorry you have to see that," he said with a frown. She was used to seeing girls falling all over themselves around Caleb. She wasn't used to him actually going for one of them, especially not this quickly.

She heard a crash over by the pool table and stood up walking toward them. Caleb left Sarah's side as Pogue left Kate's.

"Do you guys need help?" Chase asked.

"No, stay with the girls," Pogue answered, but Emily had no intention of staying.

"Emily, Pogue said to stay here," Kate prompted.

"No," she answered walking away from them and following her brother.

"He made the shot, pay up," Tyler argued.

"That's bull shit," one of Aaron's buddies answered, "we're not paying."

"What's going on?" Caleb's authoritative voice was louder than all the rest.

"He bet that I couldn't make a shot, but I did."

"Just forget about it then," Pogue turned around and noticed Emily watching.

"Go back inside."

She shook her head and approached him.

"Emily,go!" Pogue said when she continued toward him.

Caleb glanced at her, but didn't say anything. He had other things to worry about and his nonchalant attitude about the situation caused Pogue to calm down.

"Hey, take it someplace else, girls." Nicky the owner leaned out the door with a baseball bat in his hands. He meant business, "Now."

"Sure, whatever you say," Aaron answered with a smirk. He walked back toward the door with his goons following him, making sure to bump into Caleb's shoulder in the process. Aaron paused for a moment in front of Emily and smiled reaching forward to stroke her face, but she backed up into Pogue who placed a protective arm around her. Soon enough, they were inside. Just the sons and Emily were left.

"What were you thinking?" Caleb asked, seemingly pissed off.

"We were just playing him," Reid answered annoyed.

"Yeah, Caleb, it was no big deal. They were suckers for it," Tyler added.

Reid walked toward Caleb and stood just inches from his face.

"Stop being such a pussy." Reid was annoyed with Caleb and started to walk away.

Caleb grabbed Reid's shoulder stopping him for walking away.

"We're not done talking." Reid took Caleb's arm as his eyes flashed to black. Emily gulped. This wasn't good.

"Reid, don't do this." Emily stepped forward and put her hand on his arm.

He looked at her with his black eyes. He was pissed.

"Stay out of this, Emily."

It was Caleb that had said it. She looked at his hand. The veins were bursting out.

"Reid." Caleb's voice was steady, even calm.

"Stop it," Emily said again, "Reid, just stop."

Reid glanced at her with his black eyes. He pushed her gently out of the way, but he was using, and there was no such thing as gentle. She landed hard on the ground at Tyler's feet.

"That's it." Caleb's eyes turned black as he pushed Reid off of him.

Tyler helped Emily off the ground.

"Are you alright?" he asked as she steadied herself next to him. She nodded, a bit taken aback. The boys had used on each other a few times before as arguments arisen, but none of them had ever used on Emily. Caleb had pushed Reid into the wall, and Reid was retaliating.

"What will it take for you to get it? It's addictive moron."

Reid was steadying himself and was working on lifting a keg.

"My powers are stronger than yours Reid."

"They aren't. Not until you ascend," he answered with a tinge of jealousy in his voice.

"Alright then, go for it, tough guy." Reid shot the keg toward Caleb who easily deflected it and sent Reid flying into the fence. There was a crash of bottles as Reid landed on the ground. Tyler left Emily's side to help Reid up and Pogue walked to Caleb, holding him back.

Emily stood back. She hated when they were like this, divided. It wasn't safe and it just didn't feel right. They were brought together for a reason. It was in their blood and they were not meant to be against each other like this.

"Just keep using like last night; you'll be as good as dead once you ascend."

Emily got a shiver down her spine at the thought and the fact that it was possible for anyone of them to be gone.

"All I did was fix her car," Reid retorted.

"I mean later and you know it," Caleb spat.

"I didn't use later," Reid walked away without another word.

"We shouldn't be using on each other, it isn't right," Tyler said quietly to Caleb.

"Well, he shouldn't be using on her either. I think that's worse." Pogue, Tyler, and Caleb all looked at Emily.

"I'm fine," she answered.

"I'll take you home, Emily," Tyler said walking toward her.

"But you're taking Reid. I don't think he wants me around right now," she responded.

"He didn't mean it," Tyler answered, "He shouldn't have done it, but I know that he didn't do it on purpose."

"I know," she answered quietly.

"I'll take you home," Pogue answered, "Kate drove herself."

Emily nodded.

"Are you sure?" Tyler asked.

She nodded again and he hugged her close to him before leaving to find Reid.

"I'll be home soon, Emily," Caleb said, "Are you alright?" she nodded though it wasn't true, "we'll talk when I get home, alright?"

"Yeah," she answered hugging him.

"Hey, is everything alright?" Sarah had appeared in the doorway.

"Yeah," Caleb answered.

"Let's go then," she replied with a smile.

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

Caleb looked at Emily and then to Pogue, "You'll take her home then?"

Pogue shook his head and clapped a hand on Emily's shoulder, "I won't take an eye off of her."

Caleb kissed Emily's forehead and said goodbye to Pogue before heading towards Sarah.

"I've got to find Kate, and then we'll go, alright."

"Yeah, sure," she answered following him back inside to the table where Kate was sitting with Chase.

"I've got to take Emily home, but I'll be over right afterwards."

"Yeah, that's fine; Chase and I have to pick up some last minute school stuff anyways," Kate answered smiling at Chase.

Pogue wasn't smiling, not even close.

"Its 11:30, Kate," he said, "There's no place open."

"Wal-Mart, Pogue, 24 hours," she retorted, annoyed.

"It's an hour drive to the nearest one," he added.

"So, it's not like I have a curfew, lay off."

"Come on Emily," he walked away quickly and she followed almost running to keep up with him. When she caught up near his motorcycle, he placed a helmet on top of her head and she buckled it. He got on the motorcycle and she sat behind him, her arms wrapped tightly around him. She had never really liked riding the motor cycle, but at this point, it was her best option. The whole ride home, neither of them said a word. They both had too many things on their mind, especially considering that it was the night before the first day of school.

"So, you'll be alright alone until Caleb gets here?" Pogue asked as Emily hopped of the bike outside her house.

"My mother's here," she answered gesturing toward the light that was on in the living room.

"Yeah, well, you're practically home alone," he answered with a bit of a smirk.

"I'll be fine. Caleb will be here any minute."

Pogue ran his hands through his hair. He was stressed.

"Are you alright?" she asked. He stopped and looked at her.

"Yeah, fine," he answered, "Don't worry about it."

"You're mad at Kate," Emily replied, "and we can all tell that you don't like Chase."

"You like him?" Pogue asked.

"He's charming, but I don't know him. He certainly hasn't done anything to make me not like him."

Pogue glanced at her.

"I just don't like the kid, and he's too friendly with Kate."

"They only went to the movies together because you had to get your bike fixed. Maybe she's feeling neglected," Emily offered.

"Well, she's got a really great way of showing it," he answered bitterly as car lights flowed over them and Caleb got out of the car.

"I'm going to get out of here," Pogue said as Caleb approached them, "See you two in the morning."

"Bye." Caleb and Emily chimed in unison before turning towards the house and heading inside.

"Mom, we're home," Caleb said his voice booming through the house.

"Well, it's about time, 11:30 on the night before school. The two of you should've been home hours ago." It was her attempt at caring.

"Sorry, we were at Nicky's," Caleb answered, "Just getting something to eat."

"What did you do the rest of the day?" she asked.

"We ran some errands," he replied.

"And I went to Tyler's house for lunch," Emily chimed in.

"Yes, and I showed a new girl, Sarah, around town," Caleb added.

"Well, I want the two of you to get a good night's sleep, but first I have something to give the two of you." They looked at each other suspiciously, "Presents," she said noticing the looks on their faces

"But, it's not-," Emily started, but was interrupted.

"I know that your birthdays aren't until later this week, but I figured with school starting I wouldn't see you much. I'll be right back."

"She seems _sober_," Emily whispered when her mother left the room.

Caleb nodded his head unsure of what to say in response. It was odd, but their mother was acting in a way that neither of them had seen in a long time.

"Here." Their mother, Evelyn, reappeared in the room with two small boxes and an envelope attached to each, "They're from your father."

"You have got to be kidding me," Emily said as her mother placed the box in her hands, "He had planned for this? He knew that he wouldn't be around, but he couldn't just stop. He couldn't resist it."

Her mother stared at her.

"Em, calm down," Caleb offered.

"I don't understand why you're so calm about this. He planned the fact that he wasn't going to be around for us. He knew it and he could've stopped it, but he didn't. He couldn't do it. Not even for us." She threw the box down on the couch and walked away from her mother and Caleb.

"I'll talk to her. She's just stressed," Caleb said as he noticed the look on Evelyn's face. She nodded, back to her old self. It was amazing how in a matter of seconds, things could change.

He pushed the door to Emily's bedroom open with the boxes in his hands.

"Emily," he said quietly.

She was sitting at her window looking in the direction of the old family house. It was the house where their ancestors had lived when they had first created the colony and it was the house where their father, now an empty man, dwelled. She hadn't been there in years. She refused to go there. Emily refused to see him.

"Do you miss him?" Caleb asked.

"No," she answered bluntly, "I didn't even know him." She turned to Caleb. The only light in the room was from the moon.

"Why are you staring at the house?"

"I wasn't," Emily replied, "Caleb, I don't really feel up to talking tonight. I just want to go to sleep and forget that this weekend ever happened."

"Emily," he said again walking to where she was.

"What?" she asked though she only said it to continue conversation.

"I'll open it with you," he looked at her hopefully. She glanced back out across the fields to the settlement house and then again to Caleb.

"I don't want to," she answered, "maybe someday I will, but for now, I don't want to open it."

He nodded not necessarily in agreement, but to show that he understood. Emily had never been to see him since he went to live in the settlement house and had no desire to. She wasn't curious even in the slightest.

"Well, something tells me that we should open them together."

She looked at him annoyed. There was no way that she was going to let him send her on a guilt trip on this subject.

"Caleb, I'm not going to-," he stopped her before she started in on him.

"Emily, I'm not saying that you have to open it right now. I'm just saying that when you're ready, I'll be ready, okay?" she nodded and set the box on her dresser.

They were interrupted by a ringing cell phone in Emily's pocket. She glanced at the screen and ignored the call.

"Reid?" Caleb asked. She nodded, "You should probably answer that,"

"Why should I?" she asked, "It's not like he's really-,"

"I'm sure that he is sorry, Em. He's pissed at me, but I'm sure he didn't mean to do that to you and just because we're not seeing eye to eye doesn't mean that you shouldn't talk to him."

She let the idea process in her head before replying.

"I know. I just don't feel up to it right now."

"And I'm sure that Tyler talked to him. So, he probably really regrets it."

"Caleb, stop it. I know."

He expressed amusement in her annoyance with him.

"I need to go to sleep," she added.

"I know you do," he answered. This time, he looked out across the fields and then at Emily, "Just remember, when you're ready, I'll be waiting."

She nodded and he kissed her forehead on his way to the door. She closed it behind him and pulled her phone back out of her pocket as it rang again.

"Reid, seriously stop-,"

"It's Scarlet, genius." Emily was cut off.

"Oh, hi, I'm sorry. I thought you were Reid."

"Obviously," she answered sounding annoyed, though Emily knew she wasn't.

"Oh, shut up, Scarlet," There was a pause.

"What happened to you last night?" she asked, "Jesse said you went off in the woods alone."

"He wasn't lying," Emily answered. She wasn't going to elaborate unless she was asked to.

"Why do I always have to pry information out of you? What happened?" she asked.

"I got caught. Caleb was little more than pissed. I was a little less than sober. It was a long night."

She didn't feel the need to talk about her experience with Aaron. Scarlet was her best girl friend and had been since she had moved here in fifth grade, but she didn't tell her everything; she couldn't. Before Scarlet, she had only really been close with the boys anyways. She was used to not having girls to tell things to and no matter how much she trusted Scarlet, she never told her the whole story about anything.

"Where were you this afternoon? I tried to call," Scarlett asked.

"Oh, I went to Reid and Tyler's for a nap," she answered, "and then Tyler took me to his house for lunch,"

"Why didn't you just nap at home?" she asked.

"Because Caleb is ridiculous and thought that I needed to learn a lesson," she paused, "What happened with you? I turned around and you two were gone."

"Oh," Scarlett said, "well…"

"You had-,"

"Shssss," she said into the phone.

"Why? It's not like anyone is listening to us," Emily said.

"Fine, yes. We did."

Emily laughed aloud.

"Why are you laughing?" she asked perturbed, "It's not like this is funny."

"It's just that you held out for longer than I thought you would," she answered, "I'm proud of you, Scar."

"Fine, mock me, but at least I'm not the virgin princess," she answered struggling to find an insult.

"Oh, dear, you're right," she answered sarcastically, "I'm proud to be a virgin. Anyways, how was it?" Scarlett was quiet for a second.

"Well, he was better than Stephen, but not quite a Pogue."

At this statement, Emily experienced a full body shudder.

"Gross," she said, "Did you have to say that? He's like a brother."

Scarlett was laughing obnoxiously into the phone.

"Oh shut it," she was still laughing, "goodnight, wench."

"Hey!" Scarlett said in protest, "You are such a loser. Who uses that?"

"Me. Goodnight," she answered.

"See you tomorrow."

Emily sat down on her bed. It had been a long day and she was exhausted despite the lengthy nap that she had taken earlier. She looked at the box on her dresser and picked it up, turning it over in her hands. It wasn't wrapped, but there was a purple bow around it. It had been her favorite color when she was a small child. She remembered that Caleb's had been blue. She set it back down and got into bed. The moon was still bright in her room and Emily stood back up, walking to the window and pushing the curtains closed and making her room pitch black.


	4. Chapter 4

Emily sat up groggily at the sound of her alarm. It had been harder for Emily to fall asleep and stay sleeping than she thought that it would be. It was 7:00 AM on the first Monday as well as the first day of school. She wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep at least until 10:00 AM, but that wasn't in the realm of possibility so she trudged into her bathroom and showered quickly. She had already showered during the night when she couldn't sleep, but figured that it might help to wake her up.

When she came downstairs, Caleb was sitting at the table, waiting.

"How did you sleep last night?" he asked as she took a seat next to him.

"Not all that great; why?" she looked at him. It wasn't that it was odd that he had asked, just that he had implied with his tone that he already knew the answer.

"I just wondered."

"I'm just having sleeping problems lately, that's all," Emily answered his unasked question. In this case, 'problems' was an understatement, "and I'm all achy, but I suppose that we know who's fault that would be," she added.

"He didn't push you that hard," Caleb answered barely looking up.

"Well, he must've. I feel like I got hit by a bus, and I've got bruises all over," she answered bitterly. She had noticed them while showering, all over her legs, arms, and the bulk of her body, "He owes me a serious apology for this. Are we leaving soon?"

"Yeah, grab something and we'll go," he answered.

Emily took the last piece of toast from his plate placing it in her mouth and following him out the door to the car.

"Good morning."Emily turned to face Scarlet; "God, you look awful."

Emily raised her eyebrows at Scarlet and looked back to the book in her lap.

"Really? Thanks so much for that," she answered. Scarlet sat next to her on the bench. They were in the student lounge, which was surprisingly empty considering that it was the first day of school.

"Well, not awful, it's just that your hair is up and everything and…"

"And what?" she asked shutting the book, "I couldn't sleep last night. Especially since your stupid cousin-," she stopped talking when she realized what she was doing, "You know what, don't worry about it."

Emily pulled her hair out of the messy bun on her head and it fell to her shoulders, unusually wavy from the tension created by the hair tie.

"Now that's better," Scarlet answered, "you just don't look like yourself with your hair up like that."

Emily rolled her eyes as Scarlet looked at Reid who was approaching them.

"What were you just saying about Reid?" Scarlet asked as if the sight of him jogged her memory.

"It's nothing; I just don't want to talk to him."

"Well, it appears that he wants to talk to you," she answered, "Come on, tell me," she whined. Scarlet was sucker for good gossip.

"I told you it's no big deal; don't worry about it."

"Where's the boy toy?" Reid asked Scarlet as he stopped beside them. Jake was usually by her side by this point of the morning.

"I don't know," she replied, "He should be here by now." She was now curious as to the whereabouts of her boyfriend.

"Well, don't you think you might want to find him? Poor puppy dog could be lost," Reid looked to Emily expecting her to express some sort of amusement at his comment. She normally laughed at his jokes, his sarcasm, but she was not finding him especially funny today.

"Right, that's a good idea. Emily, I'll see you in English," Scarlet said leaving Reid standing in front of Emily. He turned to watch Scarlett leave and by the time that Reid turned back to Emily, she had already made it to the corner and had turned it. She bowed into her first period class before he could catch up with her.

Reid walked back to Caleb, Pogue, and Tyler, defeated.

"Your sister is such a goddamn brat," he said as he dropped his textbook on the bench beside him. Reid didn't really do homework; the book was simply a prop.

"Why? What did she do now?" Caleb asked slightly interested.

"She wouldn't talk to me, not one word, and then she just jetted off to her class when I wasn't paying attention."

"She's mad at you Reid. You pushed her pretty hard," Tyler said quietly and they all looked at him.

"No, I didn't," Reid argued back, "I barely tapped her, and anyways, she's fine. She's over-reacting."

"She told me that she had bruises this morning when she woke up," Caleb added.

Reid looked at him.

"Exaggeration," he replied simply and Caleb shrugged in response. He had his doubts about it himself, but he thought he'd mention it, "She'll come around. Don't worry about her. She can't stay mad at you; she won't stay mad at you,"

"I'm not worried about it. I could care less as long as she isn't going to make things bigger than they are and as long as she's not going to be a brat about all of this," he answered attempting to sound nonchalant and genuine. He was desperately failing.

Reid spotted her later, during mid-morning break and grabbed her arm before she had even sensed his presence beside her.

"We need to talk," he said quickly.

"Reid, let go," she answered, "It hurts."

"Oh, stop it," he replied with a roll of his eyes.

"I'll talk to you, just let go," He dropped his hand and she rubbed her arm.

"You can stop the act, Emily," he said, "I didn't push you that hard."

"You must've, I have all sorts of bruises," she answered, "and I feel awful, my body aches, not to mention I have a headache as well."

He looked beyond skeptical.

"I can't believe you think that I'm lying to you," she replied to his look, "I'm not, Reid." She lifted her shirt enough to expose her stomach and the large bruise that covered it.

"That's disgusting," he responded.

"Not the point, Reid. The point is that you pushed me, while you were using; and it hurt like hell; and you're an asshole."

Emily took three steps in the other direction before he stopped her again.

"Well, excuse me," he said with an obvious attitude, "I'm trying to apologize to you."

"No, you're not; you're trying to give me a hard time. Honestly, do you care if I forgive you or not?" He didn't answer because odds were, it was a rhetorical question, "Exactly, no, you don't care."

"Emily, I didn't say that."

"Well, you didn't say that you did either, and aren't you afraid that people will see you showing some sort feeling, because that's it isn't it? You're scared to feel anything about anyone other than yourself."

"No, I don't like to show that I care. You know that," he answered in hushed tones.

"Well, I don't think that there's much of a difference between that and not caring.

Emily's attitude annoyed Reid, but the fact that she was right annoyed him more than anything else.

"I don't even know why I bother trying to deal with you rationally, Emily. You're not perfect, none of us are, but you sure try and hold us to that standard."

"No, I don't-," she argued, "I never said that I wanted you to-,"

"You didn't need to," she stood facing him with her arms crossed staring at Reid in silence. It felt like the type of uncomfortable silence that Emily detested; that same type of silence that her brother always used to his advantage.

"Well, what would you like me to say?" she asked him to fill the void.

"I don't care what you say. What do _you_ want?" he asked. He had gained control until he asked her that.

"I want you to say what you intended to say to me."

"Is that really going to make anything better?" he asked, "Honestly?"

"I don't know, maybe."

"You know what I was going to say."

"Yes, I do. That's the whole point."

"I didn't do it on purpose Emily and you know it. I was mad at your damn brother, but you got in the way. That wasn't any of your business."

"Yeah, I know, but you guys were being stupid," she answered.

"No, Caleb was," she rolled her eyes.

"In my opinion, you both were being incredibly stupid," she replied just loud enough so that he could hear.

"Regardless, you're not one of us. It was for the four of us," he replied

"Fine," she said as the anger was welling inside of her, "if that's how it really is."

"Emily- that's not what I meant."

"What did you mean then?" He was getting impatient with her being so difficult about the situation. "I have to go and find Tyler. I'll talk to you later." She turned and walked in the direction of the library.

"Does your brother know about that?" Reid asked.

"Know about what?" she walked back to him.

"Tyler," he answered.

"What about him?" she asked.

"That you're desperately in love with him,"

"He's my friend. He doesn't treat me like crap like you do."

"Friends? You look at him as if he's the light of your damn life, Emily."

She shrugged not feeling the need to defend anything and walked away to find Tyler. She finally found him in the library.

"I've been looking all over for you," Emily stated as she set her bag down and took a seat next to Tyler.

"Did you talk to Reid yet?" he asked glancing at her.

"Yes, rather unwillingly, mind you," she answered. He was still looking at his book, "He's impossible."

"He can be," Tyler answered, "We'll talk later, okay?" He stood up, taking his books with him. She nodded, confused. Tyler had always had time for her, especially when something was wrong.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"There's a new girl, Allie. I'm supposed to show her around," she nodded.

"Can I come? What grade is she in?" He stopped and came back to the table for a minute.

"You wouldn't want to; she's a senior."

"Oh," I answered; he did not want her there and she could tell just by his tone.

"You really should resolve things with Reid though," she nodded unenthusiastically.

"We'll talk later, Emily, right after school. I promise. We'll get coffee or something," He left her there in the library. She sat in the seat that he had vacated and put her head in her hands. The one person that she wanted to talk to, Tyler, was busy with someone else, some other girl.

"Emily."

She inhaled before answering. Emily hadn't expected him to follow her to the library. She thought that they were done talking and he hadn't stepped foot in the library since freshman orientation.

"Are you alright?"

She opened her eyes to see Chase, and thankfully not Reid.

"Oh, yeah, fine."

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I just thought that you were Reid," he nodded.

"Can I sit down?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, sure, go ahead." She moved her bag out of the way and he sat down across from her.

"So, you don't want to talk to Reid I take it?" he asked.

"It's no big deal. He's just being annoying."

"I see" he answered quietly, "That's nice." Chase leaned forward and took her necklace in his hand, admiring it and studying it closer.

"Yeah, it was my Aunt's. She died when I was little."

"Family heirloom?" he looked up to her and she nodded. Outside of the window, just below them on the quad, Emily could see Tyler and a girl who she presumed to be Allie. She could not help but watch them. He was smiling and laughing as she flipped her hair and smiled back.

"You're much prettier than she is; you know that, don't you?"

She looked back to Chase.

"What?" Emily hadn't realized that as she was watching Tyler, Chase was watching her.

"You're prettier than the girl that he's with," he nodded toward the window. "She's a bit bland, too, personality wise, I mean."

"You met her?" she asked.

"Yeah, Tyler introduced her this morning."

"Well, she's obviously got something special about her," Emily said quietly, allowing her gaze to return to Tyler and the new girl.

"Or maybe he's not as special as you thought," she looked at Chase oddly.

"But he is," she answered quietly, looking back to Chase, "I mean, he's one of my best friends; he's special in that way."

"Not in another way?" he asked.

"No, he's just one of my best friends. I've known him since I was born," she answered with a bit more confidence. Chase nodded and Emily glanced out the window again.

"What are you doing this weekend?" he asked, "On Saturday?" he asked, "Being new and all, I was just thinking that maybe you could show me around, let me in on all Ipswich has to offer."

"Oh, I don't know if Caleb will let me-,"

"Don't worry about your brother; I'll talk to him for you. I mean, if you want to hang out." He smiled that calming smile at her, "No pressure or anything."

"Well, sure," she smiled back, "We can go to lunch or dinner and walk around town and stuff."

"I kind of wanted to see some of the old buildings and stuff; I hear that they're phenomenal."

"Yeah, sure." Emily looked out the window again, but Tyler and Allie were gone.


End file.
